Impostor phenomenon (or impostorism) is a psychological experience where individuals, despite clear evidence of their competence and achievements, feel persistent self-doubt and a fear of being exposed as a fraud. They attribute their successes to external factors, rather than their own abilities and live with an ongoing anxiety that others will eventually discover their supposed lack of skill or intelligence.
What impostorism is not:
- Simply a lack of skill, incompetence, or actual fraudulence. People with impostor syndrome are typically competent and successful, but they doubt their abilities and attribute their success to external factors like luck or excessive effort, rather than genuine skill.
- The same as general low self-esteem or shyness. While it involves self-doubt, impostor syndrome is specifically about feeling like a fraud despite evidence of achievement and fearing exposure as such.
- Strictly perfectionism or anxiety, though these traits often co-occur. Impostor syndrome is a distinct pattern of thinking that centers on the inability to internalize success and a persistent fear of being “found out”.
Perfectionism is driven by the internal demand to meet extremely high or even unattainable standards, often out of fear of failure or criticism.
Perfectionists may tie their self-worth to their ability to achieve perfection and are often dissatisfied even when they succeed.
The two can reinforce each other:
perfectionists may develop impostor feelings when they fall short of their impossible standards, and those with impostor syndrome may strive for perfection to avoid being “found out”.
Let’s break down the differences between impostorism and perfectionism, according to Valerie Young, who studies impostor syndrome:
| Aspect | Impostorism | Perfectionism |
| Focus | Internal rulebook about what it means to be competent. | How something is done and flawless execution. |
| Main fear | Being exposed as incompetent. | Fear of making mistakes or not meeting high standards. |
| Success is attributed to | Luck, someone else’s mistake, people liking them, help from their network. | Accepts success as their own, but doesn’t take time to enjoy it. Thinks about the next thing. |
| Response to mistakes | Confirms the belief of being a fraud. | Confirms a sense of failure, guilt, self-criticism. |
When it comes to making a career change, impostorism can show up like:
“I’m not actually qualified for this new role. I’ve just been lucky so far. What if they find out I don’t really know what I’m doing?”
Despite having years of experience and transferable skills, the high achiever downplays their accomplishments and doubts their ability to succeed in a new environment.
While perfectionism sounds like:
“If I can’t do this right from the start, I shouldn’t do it at all. I need to take another course or get another certification before I’m ready.”
They believe they must have everything covered before feeling confident enough to make the change, even when they already meet the job requirements.
I’ve worked with clients who struggle with both.
I’ve experienced perfectionism more so than impostorism in my own professional life.
If you recognize yourself in either of these patterns, the first step is simply noticing which is more present.
The work looks different depending on the answer.
For impostorism, the work is about learning to own your wins instead of deflecting them. It’s about believing what you’ve already done.
For perfectionism, the work is about tolerating flawlessness, tolerating the discomfort of starting before you feel ready.
Both require you to change negative and fixed ideas about yourself into flexible, constructive ones.
